


always defying

by exbex



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anal Plug, Childbirth, F/M, Genderswap, Pregnancy, Sexswap, Slice of Life, Vibrators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:14:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23723668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exbex/pseuds/exbex
Summary: Maybe she should have rethought the whole not telling the coaches, owners, or anyone besides her husband about trying to get pregnant. Her agent is going to kill her.Then again, fuck anyone very much. Except for whoever is unlucky enough to be the next one to come around the corner and be roped into sneaking out of optional skate and buying her a pregnancy test.
Relationships: Alexei "Tater" Mashkov/Kent "Parse" Parson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 80





	always defying

Kate is used to two things in her life: hard work and the payoff from the hard work coming together when the timing is right. She’s well aware that the latter is due at least partly to luck and privilege. She’s also aware that there are things in life that are well outside of her control, that no amount of hard work can grant. 

This logic is sound, but not entirely helpful when she’s staring at yet another pregnancy test that may as well have a giant F for Failure on it.

When she leaves the bathroom Alexei takes one look at her face and immediately shifts into Emotional Support Husband mode.

But this is not one of the failed attempts in which Kate is going to have a sniffling, weeping, crawl into bed and eat ice cream meltdown. This is going to be a practice-her-slapshot-until-she-can’t-see-straight failed attempt at baby-making. 

**

“Lyosha, what do you want for your birthday?” Alexei’s birthday is in three days. Planning ahead as far as non-hockey purposes has never been Kate’s strong suit.

“Sex slave,” Alexei responds, completely deadpan as he carefully waters his plants. The light coming through the glass of the greenhouse illuminates his careful concentration in a way that is endearing but also sexy, which Kate thinks is completely absurd, but she was also surprised that her husband transitioned into retirement by opening a thriving nursery, so she doesn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on it.

“What kind of sex slave?”

“Blonde. Cute. Sarcastic.”

“I’m pretty sure Bittle is busy, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“Am serious,” Alexei follows her into the house. “Will be present for both of us.”

“Bold of you to presume. Okay, not at all bold of you to presume; of course I’m down,” Kate amends at Alexei’s raised eyebrows. “As long as I don’t have to wear heels or a mini-skirt or some shit like that.”

“You know me better than that,” Alexei scoffs.

**

Kate wakes up on Alexei’s birthday to a gift-wrapped box, complete with lopsided bow.

“I think I’m supposed to be the one to give and you the one to receive.”

“Is gift for me. You just wear.” Alexei pushes the box across the bedspread. Kate quirks an eyebrow at him. Her version of sexy underwear tends to be wearing his jersey rather than lace. But she sets to tearing the paper wrapping; she’ll feel ridiculous, but he’ll look at her as if she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, so she can indulge him in this.

It’s a pair of silky black underwear with a suspicious bulge which, upon further inspection, turns out to be a vibrator. When she looks back up at Alexei, he’s laying on his side and giving her a sort of leer that would make him look like a douchebag if it weren’t him.

“You’re lame,” she deadpans.

“You’re turned on.”

He’s not wrong, but she can’t let him off that easy. “What makes you think so?”

“I know when my Katya is turned on,” he replies.

Kate rolls her eyes, but she obliges by throwing the covers back and swinging her legs off the bed. She makes a show of stepping into the panties and sliding them up over her hips.

Because Alexei is a dick, he makes her wait almost an hour after they’ve had breakfast before he surreptitiously uses the remote to turn the vibrator on.

“This isn’t like swimming in the ocean” she chirps, but she can’t hide the small gasp that comes out of her, as of course he’d waited until she was distracted.

“Come play xbox,” he says as if he isn’t engaging in kinky shenanigans.

Predictably, Alexei switches the remote on every time she’s close to beating him in the game, but turns it off before she can come close enough to an orgasm to get some relief. “Asshole,” she says. “Also, you’re kind of a little bitch because you’re afraid to lose.”

Alexei shrugs, as if this is a totally nonchalant day off. “Is my birthday. Indulge me.” As if to punctuate the point, he puts his controller down and cups her chin in his hand before leaning in for a kiss.

Kate moans as he slides one hand beneath her jersey and cups her breast, caressing slowly until he tweaks a nipple. He’s a damn good kisser and knows exactly what she likes. When he slides his tongue into her mouth and switches the vibrator on, she can’t help but try to rut against him.

Because he’s an asshole, he pulls away and switches the vibrator off. “Go into the bedroom and get the handcuffs out please,” he says.

If she were in top form, Kate would chirp him about being polite, but with the promise of a good fucking, she obeys without comment. When Alexei enters the bedroom to find her already placing one cuff on her wrist, he raises an eyebrow. “So impatient.” It doesn’t stop him from finishing the task of fastening the other cuff, before leaning in for a slow kiss.

Kate shivers as the tell-tale vibrating sound starts up again, then furrows her brow at the lack of physical sensation. Her eyes widen at the realization. “Did you put a plug in?”

He grins. “You should not have all the fun.”

“Having me at your mercy isn’t fun for you?”

“Da, but I am greedy.”

She doesn’t have time to chirp him before he turns on the remote. As it turns out, the intensity can also be adjusted.

**

Kate can honestly say she’s never spent a single practice hiding out in the washroom. But there is apparently a first time for everything. How apropos that it occurs when she’s thirty-one years old and suspecting that she’s pregnant.

Maybe she should have rethought the whole not telling the coaches, owners, or anyone besides her husband about trying to get pregnant. Her agent is going to kill her.

Then again, fuck anyone very much. Except for whoever is unlucky enough to be the next one to come around the corner and be roped into sneaking out of optional skate and buying her a pregnancy test.

She surreptitiously steps out of the washroom and peers around the corner at the sound of someone whistling. It’s Scraps. Perfect. The hockey gods must be nodding their approval.

“Hey Scraps, a word?” It’s a real effort to act casual, but anything otherwise risks looking suspicious.

“What’s up Cap? His eyebrows are doing that weird thing when he can’t figure out what is happening. Fortunately, he looks like that at least thirty percent of the time, so he’s unlikely to arouse any suspicion among the rest of the organization.

She gestures as if she’s talking about stick-handling as she lowers her voice. “I need you to go buy me a pregnancy test on the DL.”

His eyes widen. “Wow, really? Did you guys, like, pull the goalie or…”

“Scraps…”

“Sorry. I’m on it. I’ll sneak out on break.”

He returns with a black plastic bag.

“Scraps, it looks like you went out and bought sex toys.”

He shrugs. “I wanted to make sure no one could see through the plastic.” He pulls out five different pregnancy tests.

“Five? Don’t you think that’s overkill?”

“You want to make sure, right? They’re all different brands.” He frowns. “Maybe I should have gotten the same brand? For quality control?”

“This is fine Scraps.”

Kate uses only three. She texts Swoops and Scraps to meet her. 

Swoops is unamused. “Parser, I don’t know why you asked us to meet you in the women’s room, but-holy shit!” He stares at the pregnancy tests laying out on the bathroom counter. “Wow. Congrats, but, why are you sharing the news here?”

“You’re going with me to inform management, seeing as you’re my alternates.”

Scraps frowns. “Wait...have you not told them that you guys have been trying? Or is this like, a total surprise?”

Kate sighs. “Not a surprise, but we’ve been trying for over a year, for one, and also, well, what’s going on in my uterus, or what I want to go on in my uterus, is a need-to-know kind of thing.”

“Of course,” Swoops nods. “You know we’ve got your back.” He pauses. “Literally, in this case, since you need to exit this washroom first so Scraps and I don’t get arrested.”

“Right. But hey guys? Don’t let this team falter just because I’m going to be off incubating.”

Swoops rolls his eyes. “You’ve been out for injuries before, and we haven’t fallen apart.”

“Never this long though,” Kate retorts. “Certain people like to blame any lapse in our season on my reproductive organs, and this time my reproductive organs are actually responsible.”

“Pick your battles Cap. You know what they say about arguing with idiots.”

“You’re right, which is why I’m not going to argue with you now.”

“That is the meanest and most hilarious thing you’ve ever said.”

Swoops and Scraps flank her on the way to talk to team management as if they’re her bodyguards.

“I’m pregnant, not made of glass, you goons.”

“Just let us have this one Parser.”

**

Kate’s pregnancy is neither textbook-joyous nor a veritable nightmare, but instead falls somewhere in the middle of the pregnancy-experience spectrum. There’s something both fascinating and a bit disconcerting that her body has been taken over. The intensity and oddness of her cravings are particularly surprising.

_I’m going to need a peanut butter, strawberry jam, and tuna sandwich on wheat toast within the next hour. And also your cock._ Unfortunately she accidentally sends it to the Aces group chat as well as Alexei.

_Parse, that is fucking nasty._

_I don’t know; I can kind of see it. Sweet, salty, and savory in one._

_I am overwhelmed and I need to lay down at the very thought._

_The thickness alone would be enough to turn me off. That’s like, two combined into one._

_Seriously Smithy? You must have had thicker. Your mouth is huge._

_You fuckers had better be talking about my pregnancy sandwich and not my husband’s penis._

_What do you think we are Parse, a bunch of homewreckers?_

**

Pregnancy is a good opportunity to try on different hats, to put that degree in sports journalism to good use, Kate figures.

The aches and pains and the vomiting put something of a damper on that kind of enthusiasm.

“Is okay to take time off,” Alexei reminds her as she sits down with a prolonged groan.

“There are women who have to work their entire pregnancies because they need the paycheck,” she sighs.

“Not benefitting from your privilege does not erase privilege,” he says.

That sparks an idea. She has time and money to try to make an actual difference right now. “Interesting,” she muses, narrowing her eyes. “I was planning on pissing off half the world by using this time to troll the internet and exploit the polarization within our society, but perhaps I’ll piss off half the world by trying to effect policy change. It’s close to the same thing, but has the potential for something good.” She pauses. “It’s almost like I’m becoming an actual adult.”

“That is my favorite thing about you,” he says. “Always defying expectations.”

**

When they had planned their wedding, Kate had reigned in the number of times she said “I’m not doing that; that’s stupid/pointless/problematic” and had been rather proud of herself for choosing her battles wisely. The wedding had been awesome and it was marginally annoying that she had to carry a stupid bouquet just because it made her mother happy, but only for the two minutes that she even noticed it. 

There are fewer instances of “that’s stupid/pointless/problematic” surrounding Kate’s pregnancy, but they are more difficult to dismiss, either because everything seems much weightier with a pregnancy, or because the things that Kate is expected to do but which she finds contemptible are far worse than having to carry a bouquet or feed a bite of cake to a grown-ass man who has full use of his hands.

“First of all, it’d be more accurately termed ‘sex reveal’ rather than ‘gender reveal.’ Second of all, and more importantly, neither of us cares. Like, at all. Statistically speaking, this kid is likely to come out with either male or female sex organs. We’re going to make sure this kid is loved and provided for, regardless. We’re excited, regardless.”

“You know I’m with you on this Kate.” Jess was carefully applying pale green (“celadon” Jess corrects) to each of Kate’s toenails. “But you know people won’t get it. Or some people won’t get it and you’ll have to answer the same questions and deal with the same comments over and over again. It’s like the whole last name thing.” She pauses, the tip of her tongue poking out as she concentrates on Kate’s pinky toenail. “And people do like to know the sex, for gifts for the baby shower. Which is foolish, like you said, because babies don’t need gendered clothing or toys.”

“Wait….I forgot about the baby shower thing.”

Jess screws the cap on the nail polish and looks at Kate in surprise. “Well, you don’t really need to think all that much about it, seeing as you don’t plan your own baby shower. Unless there are specific things you do or don’t want done at your baby shower.”

“Ugh…” Kate buries her face into a pillow then pulls it away. “Can’t we just skip the whole baby shower thing? Alexei and I are financially comfortable; we can buy our own stuff.”

“People like to give gifts Kate. And, you know, a baby shower is kind of like a bridal shower; it gives people a chance to kind of celebrate this next phase in your life or whatever.”

“Oh god no,” Kate groans. “I hate that shit. Penis-shaped candies and boozy brunches…”

“Yeah...that’s not really par for the course at a baby shower.”

“And yet I’m expected to not only know what genitals my baby has before they’re born, but I’m also supposed to come up with some kind of convoluted scheme involving blue or pink food coloring or smoke or glitter or antifreeze…”

“Honey...you can have whatever you want for a shower, okay?”

Kate considers, lifting her feet up so she can get a glimpse of her pedicure. “I want to have it the day of my birthday. We can do a barbecue, watch the fireworks, just have a good time.”

“That’s...two days after your due date.”

“Only if I make it to forty weeks. Which seems unlikely seeing as I look like I should be terrorizing Captain Ahab right now.”

“Captain Ahab was the terrorist in that story; the whale was just trying to live his best life and Ahab anthropomorphized it to a point of true absurdity.”

“Speaking of absurd…”

Jess laughs. “Alright Sis. We’ll do a joint baby shower/birthday party with barbecue. Actually, people will probably enjoy that a lot more than the usual anyway.” She coaxes Kate onto her side so she can rub out the knots in her shoulders. “How are you doing with this whole missing a season of playing thing?”

“I knew what I was getting into. And there’s a lot more to life than hockey.”

Kate can practically hear Jess’ raised eyebrows. “I’m not sure I ever thought I’d hear you say that.”

“Surprising people is my modus operandi.”

“Touche.”

**

Kate watches Vancouver make history in Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals as she’s positioned on all fours, Alexei murmuring encouragement next to her. 

“Yeah, suck it Spanky,” she cheers somewhat breathlessly. 

Alexei gives a low chuckle. “You’re doing so well with this.” There’s admiration in his eyes.

“I’m just so happy to be this close to not being pregnant anymore.”

‘This close’ turns out to be much farther away than Kate would prefer, but the sound of Anna Parson’s wail is better than any game-winning goal, and the way she feels in Kate’s arms is better than all of her Stanley Cup wins combined.

“I love you,” Alexei murmurs as he leans in to place a kiss to her forehead. 

“I love you too.” Kate grins down at the sleeping bundle. “And I love this little alien-potato hybrid.”

Alexei cocks his head, examining Anna. “I see what you mean. But cutest alien-potato hybrid ever.”

**

On July 4th, Anna is gifted with a comical number of baby-sized jerseys from a bevy of hockey players who are reduced to cooing, misty-eyed versions of themselves every time she so much as yawns.

Alexei brings her a plate of food. He settles down next to her and grins as he looks out over the crowd. “Is this what you pictured?”

He’s probably talking about the party itself, but Kate can’t help but think back to all of her best-laid plans of becoming one of the first women to play in the NHL, and how hard she had to work to make it happen. In all the daydreams and what if scenarios, she never imagined any of this. 

“No, it’s better.”


End file.
